Wee Notes
This is William’s notes as the year progresses.
Spring is Sprung
Well the Spring equinox is past, the clocks have gone forward and Easter is just round the corner. Daffodils are out and the sunshine is becoming warmer. For those who are affected by seasonal adjustment disorder the year can finally begin. My wife suggested at the weekend that we should make our New Year resolutions now rather than in January since it is much easier to look forward at this time of year than it is in the dark days of Winter. - what would yours be if asked now?
Whatever is the case I recommend that, if you can, you take a break and take a moment to enjoy the new growth, the warmth and the extra daylight.
Groundwater
I was speaking to Alex earlier today about the problems of groundwater contamination. SEPA has updated and substantially changed its guidelines concerning the assessment of groundwater, particularly with respect to historic contamination.
As many of you will be very well aware, many local shallow groundwater bodies have been, and indeed are, contaminated due to past industrial activities. In the past such contamination may have been assessed as being representative of the area as a whole and outwith the capacity of the development to remediate - this is not so now and new sites will have to assess the site based on a number of metrics. At the tail end of the day Alex and I discussed possible cost effective groundwater mitigation measures for a site down in Galloway. The site will not bear costly dig and dump or chemical remediation methods and Alex’s suggestion may well improve the environmental and liberate the site for development. Two birds with one stone.
I’ll keep you informed as this progresses.
Contamination - the blight of our forefathers.
I have just returned from a couple of days visiting family near Sellafield on the Cumbrian coast. Politics aside, the presence of the long standing nuclear power plant brought to my mind the matter of activities undertaken by our forefathers impacting us and our children. This in turn brought to mind the case of ‘Love Canal’ near Niagara Falls in America. This was a late 19th Century canal project which was repurposed as a dump for a variety of chemicals prior to being used for housing and a school. The resultant impact on the community brought about the whole ‘Polluter Pays ‘ principle in the USA and beyond and established the concept of a risked based approach to the problem of contamination.
This brings me to our part in reducing risk to our communities and children. Since being established, Terrenus Land & Water has been closely involved in the assessment and remediation of past industrial (and agricultural) activities so that there is no linkage between the source, the pathway and the receptor. Looking back, we are, I think, justifiably satisfied that we have helped to turn areas where contamination is a concern into sites where risks have been mitigated and which allow new growth for tomorrow’s world.
How do we solve the problem of the water.
It strikes me that every week I am asked if a certain site will flood. A good question and, as I tell clients, the first place to look is the SEPA Flood Map which give an outline idea of the fluvial, surface water and coastal flood likelihood. The problem is that we live in a world where avoidance of flood risk is assumed and to know the details of the possible inundation - some form of hydraulic modelling is often needed. Three key inputs form the backbone of any flood model - the landform (including things which affect the flow of water), the amount of water falling from the sky and the roughness of the environment. Two of these elements entail very big data sets and it falls to our modellers to cope with the information systems in order to construct a robust model. We have to justify every part of the model and the end product is always very impressive but rarely cheap.
To avoid un-necessary costs I always recommend giving us a call to get a heads up on any site prior to the start of any formal work. To our valued clients its cost free.
Earthwork and the Weather
It is a universal truth in Scotland that just when you want to start site investigation works or earthwork platforming works that the weather takes a turn for the worst. Like farmers who are at the mercy of the rain clouds so are all ground workers. Sometimes it is a matter of having the right equipment and clothes, however, the complex relationship between soils and water can result in an troublesome halts and expensive delays not to mention the ever present health and safety concerns.
It is with this background that we start another cycle of platforming works at Bishopton. Alex and Edwina, once they have donned the right clothing, will brave the elements to ensure that settlement monitoring results in the site being fit for purpose later this year.
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